Demon's Enmity
by Bauhaumut Eagle
Summary: The story of a young demon's tragic past beginning when her replacement family is killed in a fire by those who desire to harness her extraordinary powers... This is mostly based on Chrno Crusade and Final Fantasy VII.
1. The Orphanage

This is a story I've been working on for only a few months now… But already, I feel really confident with it. The original title really stunk so…. I changed it to something more interesting… After all, who wants to read a story named 'Little Demon'? (It sounded pretty cheesy in the first place…. >>) Anyway, this is my own demon character, Shauni Ithilethiel's story…. Part One… (I think? Haven't decided on making it two parts yet…) Her past is one riddled with mystery until I wrote this… In fact, new ideas were coming to me each day. But this pretty much ties in everything that I have been working on in the Roleplays that Shauni has been in. It combines the logic used in Chrno Crusade, and also even adds in a character from Chrno Crusade to tie it in with a Chrno Crusade RP Shauni was in. (That was fun to write! There will be the first chapter featured a bit later that you can read ahead if you so choose….) Anyway, Shauni Ithilethiel, Miss Underwood, and all the little Orphanage kids in this chapter belong to me and no one else! Including the evil little government dudes… This may not stay the first chapter for long so keep an eye out on it… I'm planning on writing back even further in Shauni's history at some point. Anyway, I'll stop my blabbering so you can enjoy… Comments are appreciated. I need to know what I need to fix and what I don't...

**Chapter 1- The Orphanage**

During the 1960s, a young orphan girl of 14 named Shauni lived happily in an orphanage with all of her other friends. She was not like the others, however. When she got angry, people feared her and they respected her as a good friend. Her eyes were an unusual emerald green color and her hair was completely black. She was always kind and helpful to others, even when they annoyed her, and violence was a concept far from her mind. Her friends and family at the orphanage was all raised with such a personality. Today, however, an unexpected visit will be made by the government officials of Shauni's hometown, a small, remote village in New York, regarding her uniqueness, and her life will take a dramatic turn for the worst.

In the lush green forests surrounding the orphanage, Shauni ran with all her might, listening to the footsteps racing after her. She did not bother to look behind for fear of tripping or running into a tree and being caught. Despite her surefootedness and carefulness, however, she tripped over a root of a tree, hidden by fallen leaves and tumbled sharply to the ground. "Ouch!" she exclaimed as the rough leaves and rocks sliced part of her knee open when she skidded to a halt on the ground. The footsteps hastened and soon, she was surrounded. "Alright," she said, smiling up at the kids around her. "You got me." The other kids smiled back, but one of them saw her leg bleeding.

"Shauni!" the girl exclaimed in surprise and shock. "Are you alright! You're bleeding!" She pointed to the cut on Shauni's leg that was dripping blood onto the leaves underneath them.

Shauni looked down to see for herself. "Oh, yeah… I'm fine. It's just a little scrape," she said, trying to stand up, but a sharp pain shot through her leg and she fell back down to the ground.

The children around her gasped. "I'll go get Miss Underwood!" one of the boys said and disappeared off in the direction of the orphanage. Seconds later, he reappeared, tugging at the apron of a tall, wrinkled yet caring looking woman. "There she is!" the boy cried out, holding back tears. Shauni looked up at the woman with a weak smile.

"Oh!" the woman exclaimed. "You know I told you never to run in the forest, Shauni! Now look what you've done to yourself!" She ran over to Shauni's side and helped her up. "Can you put any weight on your leg, young one?"

Shauni tried to place her leg down on the ground, but winced as she did so. "I'm fine, Miss Underwood," she lied.

Miss Underwood smiled. "I should think not! Come now, lean on my arm and I shall take you back to your bed so we can clean that wound of yours off." She did as she was told and the two of them, followed by an escort of many sobbing young children, walked slowly back to the large, white painted house.

When they reached her bedside, Shauni tried to get in herself, staining the white sheets with her bloody leg. "Honestly, child! Do not try to o everything yourself! Others will help you, if you let them!" Miss Underwood said, running to help her up.

"I know, but I'm fine, really! So you don't have to worry." She smiled and was met only by the woman's old smile beaming at her.

"Of course. Well, I insist that you at least stay in bed for the rest of the day. You need time to have that scrape healed!" Miss Underwood left the room for a moment and came back with a bucket of warm water and a soft cloth. "Let me see, now. I'll clean it off to prevent an infection." Shauni held her knee out for her and the woman carefully wiped the dried blood away, then cleaned the cloth and placed it on the cut. "There now, let that cloth sit there for a while and it will heal faster. Rest up!" she said and left the room to allow the young girl to sleep.

Inside the darkened room, Shauni lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. For some reason, the darkness did not seem as dark as it should have been for her. In fact, her room looked almost completely lit with light as if there were no shadows at all. Her leg was still hurting, but it was not as bad as when it first happened. She started to close her eyes, when suddenly, she hears a knock on the door. She listens intently as she hears Miss Underwood's footsteps and her voice mumbling "Oh, what now?" as she always did when someone came to the house. Shauni slows her breathing so that she can hear. As the door opens, a brusque voice is heard from outside saying "Good afternoon, Miss Underwood... I suppose you know why we are here…?" She hears Miss Underwood grunt distastefully. "Yes, of course I know why you are here… And my answer is still the same as always. I am not allowing you to take any one of these children away from this orphanage."

The man was silent for a moment, but she could feel him laughing on the inside. "You leave us no choice, then…" he said. "If you do not release the little demon to us by the end of this day, we will burn this house to the ground and kill everyone in it, even if it means loosing a powerful ally…"

"Well, I never!" Miss Underwood said with a surprised voice. "If you ever do, you will be taken to court and I would be sure of that!"

The man snickered and said so low that she could barely hear him, "If there is anyone still alive to do so…" At that point, Miss Underwood slammed the door and stomped off up the stairs to her bedroom in the upper level.

Shauni's heart was in her throat. "Burn the orphanage and kill everyone in it?" she whispered to herself over and over again. Her eyes widened with fear and horror at what that would mean. All of her friends and family she had known for most of her life, her real father and mother completely forgotten because they were lost to her when she was small, would be gone if this 'little demon' was not released by the end of the day. She wondered if this had ever happened before and if they were really crazy enough to fulfill their threat? '_No..._' she thought, deep within her mind. '_They could never…'_ But she would not know how wrong she was… Putting the strange occurrence to the back of her mind and quickly fell asleep, suddenly feeling very tired.


	2. The Fires of Destruction

Short chapter… OO Personally, I think it should be much longer but… This is what I have for it right now… Not even a full Microsoft Word page… But this is the start of the fun! For next chapter, you will see just what happens when you get Shauni angry… Mwa ha ha! Continue with evil laugher here

**Chapter 2- The Fires of Destruction**

In the middle of the night, Shauni woke up and sat bolt upright, her forehead wet with sweat. She felt something amiss… Quickly, she ran to the window and flung open the curtains, peering into the pitch black night. Outside, through the trees of the forest, she could see figures, hidden even to her night eyes. Within her mind, however, she could tell that these were the same people that had threatened to burn the orphanage and they had come to fulfill it. Without thinking about her knee, Shauni ran to all of her friend's rooms. "Wake up!" she yelled and banged the door in panic. At every room, she received the same answer. "What is it? Do you know what time it is?"

"I don't care what time it is! The orphanage is burning!" she would yell. "Come on, we have to get out of here!" Panic overtook every face. Tears began to fall, pained tears, but Shauni kept them going. "Don't cry, don't cry! Everything will be alright, I promise!" She herself was finding it hard to choke back her own tears. "Try all the doors and if that doesn't work, the windows!" she yelled when everyone was together, the flames already eating away at the house and black smoke filling every corner. "I'll go and get Miss Underwood!"

She found it hard to breathe as the smoke filled her lungs, but she kept running up the stairs as fast as she could. The smoke was worse higher up and she could barely see, but she made her way to Miss Underwood's room. Inside, she heard sobbing. She flung open the door and called into the room. "Miss Underwood? Miss Underwood, are you alright?"

The sobbing stopped and the woman's voice was heard, saying "Shauni? Oh, Shauni! Please, come here. There's not that much time left. It is time you knew the truth…"

Shauni made her way over to her caretaker and sat down next to her on her bed. She waited, becoming ever more worried.

"You see…" she started slowly. "You are, well, special… And those people out there, they want to catch you and force you to use your powers. You must not let them do that! Within you is something so powerful that you cannot even control it! Flee from here, Shauni! Leave us behind in your mind! Do not worry, our spirits will not envy you in death."

Shauni stared at her in surprise and shock. "No, I would never! You are all so dear to me, I would do anything to save you or avenge you, no matter what!"

But before Miss Underwood could respond, a loud cracking noise was heard and the floor gave way. Shauni screamed out in terror as the entire house collapsed into a pile of rubble. Outside, those who had caused the fire smiled malevolently.


	3. Black Seraphim

This chapter actually had undergone some changes only just recently…. I had changed Shauni's demon form a bit from the original. Gave her a draconic look… Why? Because dragons are awesome. And anyone who says they aren't, may they be eaten by one! Just kidding. ;-) I wanted to change her image more than just a few added features here and there so I decided to give her a tail and draconic legs. It made her more interesting, but it also made her harder for me to draw… :-( Oh well… In this chapter, John belongs to me as well. But who cares cuz he's dead. :-D I just didn't want people to get confused by the overuse of the pronoun 'him' or 'he'… lol

**Chapter 3- Black Seraphim**

"Alright," one of the officials said. "Put the fire out and search for any survivors. If there are any, you have permission to shoot them…" The uniformed men around him saluted and scattered about the orphanage ruins, leaving no stone unturned.

"Over here!" someone shouted and a small group of men gathered next to him.

"What is it?" someone asked, confused as to why he had been called over to a piece of rubble for no reason.

"I saw this stone move before!" the man said, his voice quavering with fear as he pointed his rifle at the inanimate object.

The men around him laughed heartily. "Yes…" they mocked him. "Yes, of course you saw it move, John… I see it too! Look! There it goes sprouting wings and flying around like a raven!"

To their surprise and horror, the rock did move and from underneath it, large, black feathered wings sprouted. "It's the demon!" John shouted and began to shoot his gun at it wildly. "The demon! The demon! She is ali-!" John's panicked screams stopped abruptly as a pale, sharply clawed hand grabbed his throat and stopped his voice. He stared down at the kneeling demon they were sent to capture as his last moments of life passed. She had an expression of surprise, her eyes and mouth opened wide. Tears of blood fell down her face and her sharp, demonic teeth were showing. She had draconic-like legs and a draconic tail, tipped with a spine at the very end. Her eyes were blood red and her long hair fell down the side of her face and shoulders like a black waterfall. She was dressed entirely in black and her immense black feathered wings were spread like great, shadowy shields around her. Her bloodlike eyes were staring at nothing but the ground and she was breathing heavily. Great, terrible horns protruded from the top of her head just above her pointed ears. Her grip tightened on his neck, her nails cut through his arteries and veins, and at last, he saw nothing, his blood dripping onto the charred earth as the others watched in horror, afraid to do anything.

The demon stood up, throwing John's body to the side. "Foolish humans…" a voice from nowhere said to them. "How dare you interrupt and awaken me!" The demon advanced towards them and they backed away. "Now, you shall all feel my wrath! Look what you have done to my home and my family! This is unforgivable!" The voice became shrill and choked with tears as it continued. "Why do you humans insist on destroying? Why do you take pleasure and pride in ruining the lives of others!" All around them, pieces of rubble began to slowly rise into the air and shoot towards them, killing them one by one. With a final breath, the last soldier screamed in alarm, calling his other colleagues as he was crushed underneath the boulder that came hurtling towards him.

As the others came closer, the demon narrowed her eyes, blood tears still falling. "Awful creatures, wretched humans! Why do you torment others for all eternity? Why! You shall suffer the most painful of deaths for your sins, I shall see to it!" the voice yells. Darkness begins to engulf the entire area and the officials were trapped inside. With her night eyes, the demon made her way to the large piece of rubble she had been trapped under. She lifted the large boulder up and threw it to the side, revealing a charred corpse, all that remained of Miss Underwood… The demon slumped down beside it, looking down at the blackened face. "I will avenge you… I don't care if you did not want me to, but I will, no matter what it takes…"

She reached over and touched the face that had cared for her so many times before and remembered all the happy memories that she had shared, memories that would be shattered forever… A blood tear fell upon the woman's face, staining a portion of the blackened skin red. The demon stood back up again, closing her eyes and turning around. "I will avenge you…" she repeated, her voice quavering. She reopened her eyes, revealing their fiery glow and concentrated all her energy on the clouds around her. "I hope you've enjoyed your last moments of life in the darkness you created… Now you shall all die here in that same darkness…"

She spread her wings out around her and creates a small swirl with her energy. Faster and faster, the clouds spin around, creating a dark hurricane over the devastation, lifting up rubble, pillars, and even the corpses and soldiers… Everything pulled toward the center where the demon, the Black Seraphim, was standing, until a bright flash replaces the darkness and a huge explosion occurs. The light blinds everyone who was standing near the ruins, including the town nearby. Then, fire replaces the light and everything is incinerated. When the energy finally subsides, nothing but an ash wasteland is left and where the Black Seraphim had been, only black feathers and an unconscious Shauni. Her left hand was mangled and bloody while other parts of her body, especially the top of her head and her back was stained red. There she lay, unaware of anything happening around her.


End file.
